High-Protein Rice in High-Yielding Background, Cv. Naveen

While the developing world is approaching towards food security, nutritional aspects must be addressed properly to combat malnutrition. As the staple food of half of the world’s population, rice is a major source of nutrition and needs to be nutritionally enriched with proteins, micronutrients, etc. With the objective of quantitative and qualitative improvement of grain protein content (GPC) in a popular high-yielding background, ‘Naveen’, we developed backcross population using high GPC (11%–13%) donor, ARC 10075. The range of GPC in BC₃F₄ lines was 7.13%–13.6%, estimated through calibrated NIR spectroscopy. Among the population lines, seven having phenotypic similarity with the recurrent parent, Naveen were identified based on high yield coupled with high protein content (10%–12%). Further, elevated levels of glutelin and some of the essential amino acids such as lysine and threonine also indicated the qualitative im-provement of grain protein of these lines. Based on higher GPC and protein yield in multilocational testing two high-yielding lines, viz. CR2829-PLN-37 (CR Dhan 310), and CR 2829-PLN-100 (CR Dhan 311/Mukul) in the genetic background of cv. Naveen with an average 10.2% and 10.1% GPC respectively, in polished rice were released at the national and state level respectively. These high-yielding varieties with high GPC can significantly contribute towards better nourishment of millions of underprivileged children depending mainly on rice for their nutrition.